(Image: Capitol Hill Ecodistrict)
Capitol Hill residents interested in making Seattle safer for bicyclists and pedestrians can learn how to advocate for safety improvements on Sunday at Street Safety & Transportation Action Day.
Advocacy training will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. at 12th Ave Arts. After that, attendees will get to put their training to use doing business outreach in the area for two hours.
Alex Brennan said the idea for the event came from issues identified by Capitol Hill Renters Initiative members.
“One thing that’s come up is traffic safety — safe walking and biking, so we’ve been thinking about what’s a good way to get renters plugged into those issues locally,” he said.
How about a better solution on Pine? (Image: Capitol Hill Ecodistrict)
The organization is working with Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and Cascade Bicycle Club to put on the event to discuss safety issues.
Marley Blonsky with the Capitol Hill Community Council has also been involved with the event.
“We want people to come to it and know that advocating for themselves isn’t a scary thing,” she said, adding that the hope is both longtime and new Capitol Hill residents will attend whether they’re cyclists or walkers.
The event will focus on the One Center City initiative and protected bike lanes on Pike/Pine as a part of that project. Members of the groups and anyone else interested in attending will learn about the project and how to advocate for it.
Participants will then visit businesses and chat with them about the issue, providing a chance for them to learn about what’s important to businesses about the project as well as build relationships with them.
“There’s been a longstanding need for safe bike lanes on Pike/Pine,” Brennan said, adding that it’s a main route for many in central Seattle neighborhoods who bike to work in Downtown.
Blonsky said it’s also important to keep pressure on city officials to ensure this and other projects get done.
“With more and more people moving here, getting to and from the places we work and play safely is more and more important,” Blonsky said.
Brennan said there’s been a lot of interest and enthusiasm for the event.
“(People) are excited the conversation is moving out of closed meetings and we’re taking it to the people,” Blonsky said.
Brennan encourages those who can’t make it are encouraged to sign up on the Capitol Hill Renter Initiative Facebook page to receive emails about advocacy training and other information.
And there, in one picture, is why traffic in Seattle is terrible; stupidity piled on top of stupidity.
Who in their right mind thinks that cramming all modes of transportation – busses, trams, bikes, personal vehicles of all types, delivery trucks and emergency vehicles – onto one street makes any sort of sense.
Seattle deserves what it gets/
Traffic is terrible because too many people drive solo in automobiles clogging up the streets.
For Poncho, traffic is terrible because growth is exceeding road capacity in a long narrow city bordered by water combined with bombastically inept and misfocused city planning. The picture does indeed illustrate every ill of Seattle politics and civic planning.
“Seattle deserves what it gets”
Which is what? Capitol Hill is the thriving and the place to be for Seattle and the region. Capitol Hill will never be competitive with Burien or South Center in terms of massive amounts of free parking and we shouldn’t even try.
I’m sure the business owners on Pine and Pike will be pleased to have these people lecture them on why their customers’ parking must be removed.
Looking at that picture of Broadway immediately makes me think of the saying, “A jack of all trades, and a master of none.”
We had to have bike lanes, we had to have parking, we had to have traffic lanes, and a streetcar, because god-forbid anyone get upset that their pet didn’t make it. And we end up with something that doesn’t work well for anyone. What a disaster this project was. It’s too bad, because if they streetcar idea had been executed well, it could actually be quite useful and we wouldn’t be seeing the extensions be canned.
If they install a Segway only lane and Moped/Scooter lane it will make is safer. Oh and maybe a lane for those who walk out in front of 2000 pound vehicles when it’s not their turn.
Someone who believes that the current scenario could ever be safe is Cuckoo.